Thursday, August 09, 2007

Niagara Falls

Being a brilliant host, O.J. took me for a ride down to Niagara Falls on my first day in Ontario, about 1½ hour drive from his place in Downtown Toronto. The town (which is located right on the border between Canada and USA - though the American part of the town is quite small) itself isn't anything special, pretty much just a place to go loose your money and watch the spectacular waterfalls. But what waterfalls! I've seen waterfalls more than thrice as high in New Zealand, but never anything this powerful! I'll tell you a nerdy fact to give you a bit of perspective: On average, 110,000 m³ runs over the edge every minute, 170,000 m³ during high flow (more nerdy facts on Wikipedia). When we were standing anywhere near the (Canadian) Horseshoe Falls, we found ourselves getting soaked by the huge wet cloud it creates.

Though not as wide and brutal, the American Falls were quite a sight as well. Mother Nature sure knows her stuff...